Introduction
The story is about one of the deadliest and fatal gun shooting ever witnessed in the United States of America. The shooting led to thirty three people losing their lives and approximately fifteen people being injured; it took place on the April of 2007 at the campus compound. The incident took place in a dormitory and a classroom.
It was at the dormitory of Virginia polytechnic institute and the classroom of State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. From the comments of administrators and authorities, it is indeed evident that the shooting was the worst. The university president described the incident as a tragedy of monumental proportion whereas those who witnessed the incident described it as an unimaginable horror.
The shooting involved the lining up of students against the wall and then they were shot. Other students jumped up the windows in their bid to escape while others crouched on the floors to take cover (CNN 1).
The incident, that has come to be referred as the Virginia tech shooting involved two separate shootings but all on the Virginia campus in Blacksburg, VA and occurred at the interval of two and half hours.
First it involved the shooting of two students in the dormitory and the next attack involved the killing of thirty one people in a classroom. There was no official confirmation as to whether the two attacks though separate were related. The investigation by the authorities only made reference to one gunman (Hauser 1).
The police response was swift since they received the news and their response was much lauded since they arrived and pursued the gunman till the second floor but it was unfortunate they found the gunman death since he had shot himself at the face (MSNBC 1).
The man who orchestrated the shooting was Seung-Hui Cho, a twenty three years old South Korean citizen and the main motive has been a subject of debate between those who associate the killing with the health of Cho and others link it with romantic dispute between Cho and his lover Emily Hilshcer.
Historical Significance of the shooting
The incident was orchestrated by Seung-Hui Cho who was a student at the Virginia tech institute.
There was an observation that the authorities failed to inform the Virginia tech institute of the Cho’s health as he had been previously diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and had always been receiving therapy and special education support while he was a student at the middle school and high school, this could have been important in providing counseling to the perpetrator.
The attack attracted a lot of media attention that focused much on the laws and the culture of the USA; part of the debate concerned gun violence and the gun laws and also loopholes on the attention regarding the treatment of mental health matters in the USA.
Also the other factors that were brought to light by the incident was the state of mind of Cho, the responsibility of the administration in learning institutions and laws of privacy which required review (Watson and Watson 1).
The shooting enabled the state of Virginia in particular and the other states of the US in general to deeply analyze and close all the loopholes that made Cho to undertake the killing.
The shooting prompted the formation of the Virginia tech review panel whose terms of reference was to review the incident. The administration of the two learning institutions was heavily criticized for doing little to stop the shooting or rather to reduce the casualties.
The incident brought into fore the necessity of learning institutions to share information about health of students and the Virginia institutions were accused for misinterpreting the federal privacy laws.
The incident also led to the flaws in the counseling centers and the inadequacy of mental health services in majority of learning institutions. The shooting also brought to fore the response of institution towards disasters (Worth 25).
Media Coverage
There was wide media coverage of the shooting both within and outside USA. How the media covered the story was heavily criticized by several parties that included the perpetrator’s family and the administration of Virginia. All media houses quickly descended to the scene of the shooting, the Blacksburg.
Because it was in the morning, all morning shows in major television houses pitched tent in the Virginia tech campus for live coverage of the incident. The media labeled the incident as the most bloody. Immediately after the incident, the media initiated media speculation concerning the mental health of the perpetrator.
The most memorizing coverage of the event was the on the spot photo captured by Jamal Albarghouti who used the video function of his phone to capture the first images that was later transmitted live and severally by media houses like the CNN. Media houses at times misrepresented the information; the Chicago sun times wrongly identified the perpetrator as a Chinese American.
Conclusion
The media coverage of the event was considerable commendable since they dissented to the scene immediately and exposed to the world the incident. The criticism by the media was also instrumental in addressing future disasters.
Works Cited
CNN. Massacre at Virginia tech. CNN, 2007. Web.
Hauser, Christine. Virginia Tech Shooting Leaves 33 Dead. New York Times, 2007. Web.
MSNBC. Worst U.S. shooting ever kills 33 on Va. Campus. MSNBC, 2007. Web.
Watson, Joseph and Watson, Steve. Virginia School Shooting: Another Government Black-Op? Prison Palnet, 2007. Web.
Worth, Richard. Massacre at Virginia Tech: Disaster & Survival Deadly Disasters. Enslow Publishers, 2008. Print.